MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND SHIPS

SERVICE AND COMMAND SUPPORT PROGRAM

SUBMARINE TENDERS (AS)

BRIEFING: These two forward-deployed ships embody the vestiges of the previously large fleet of submarine and destroyer
tenders and repair ships. Although their sister ships were rapidly decommissioned and disposed of after the Cold War, the two
L.Y. Spear-class tenders Emory S. Land and Frank Cable are
important assets intended to serve into the mid-2020s.

Both ships remain commissioned U.S. Navy units, and they
now are hybrid mixed-manning ships, with MSC CIVMARs
assuming responsibility in 2008 and 2010 to man, operate and
maintain the ships, while uniformed Navy personnel, under the
command of a U.S. Navy captain, handle the mission roles.

Both ships have been given modernization and habitability
upgrades. The ships routinely deploy throughout the Western
Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

BRIEFING: The two Mercy-class hospital ships have become
prime assets in the Navy’s efforts to reach out to foreign countries and provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

When fully operational, the hospital ships have a crew of
about 71 civilians and up to 1,200 Navy medical and communications personnel. The precise crew composition and size varies
by mission type. During humanitarian-assistance missions, the
crew often includes representatives from other U.S. services,
foreign militaries and nongovernmental organizations.

Since 2001, the hospital ships have conducted nine
humanitarian-assistance and disaster-response missions at home
and abroad, providing care to more than 550,000 people.

Comfort, which originally drew most of its medical staff from
the Washington area, was transferred to Norfolk, Va., in 2013 to
be closer to the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, where most
of its medical staff now is based. Comfort’s scheduled mission to
eight countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean
in spring 2013 was canceled due to budget limitations imposed
by sequestration.

Comfort deployed for 180 days for Continuing Promise 2015.
Mercy deployed for 150 days for Pacific Partnership 2015.

BRIEFING: The first and only cable-laying and repair ship built
especially for the U.S. Navy, Zeus can lay up to 1,000 miles of
cable to depths up to 9,000 feet. The ship supports the Sound
Surveillance System network of strategically placed sonar sensors providing early warning of submarines.